Castle Dale City discusses animal control ordinance

By COREY BLUEMELStaff Writer

Castle Dale City Council is in the process of reviewing and updating several city ordinances. At the recent council meeting the proposed changes were discussed and revised.

Mayor Neal Peacock said of the animal control ordinance, "This is not a final draft, it needs discussion. I am not adverse to change and amendment. I want to thank Councilman Jack Rogers and his committee who have been working on this new proposed ordinance."

The council discussed the definitions portion of the proposed ordinance. For the word restraint when applied to restraining an animal, Mayor Peacock suggested that the word physical be inserted before restraint.

It was his opinion that vocal restraint or voice commands is not adequate for the restraint or control of an animal. The council agreed.

When the council had reviewed the entire ordinance, changes were made to the nuisance animal portion of the proposed ordinance. A change was made to the definition of I.D tags for an animal. The council added a clause which allows residents to license their animals for one, two, or three years, in conjunction with the rabies vaccination.

Another change was made to the number of dogs a resident can own. It was decided that if a resident has more than three dogs, he must purchase a kennel license. Also, the city will recognize licenses from other towns for an animal until the next licensing period.

This ordinance and the proposed changes will come up for a public hearing at the next regular meeting of the city council.

Attached to this ordinance is a resolution concerning the fees in the ordinance. "The fee schedule will be the most controversial item. We need to discuss the numbers and schedule a public hearing," said Mayor Peacock. Following the discussion of the fees to be included in the fee schedule for the animal ordinance, the public hearing was set for the next city council meeting.

Mayor Peacock then informed the council he has received a new door-to-door sales ordinance from the city's attorney. Due to a lawsuit by a well known company against the types of ordinances that prohibit door-to-door sales, many towns have been required to change their ordinances. The lawsuit results stated that no city can prohibit door-to-door salesmen, and that city must honor the business license of that company, no matter where it is issued.

Although, the salesmen will be required to register with the city and undergo a background check. In Castle Dale, the registered salesmen will be issued some form of identification for residents to check.

The changes in the door-to-door sales ordinance will also be scheduled for a public hearing at the next city council meeting.

The final public hearing was discussed for the sidewalk vendors ordinance. "We passed this ordinance several months ago and there are a few items that we neglected. We must have a public hearing to open this ordinance for amendment," stated Mayor Peacock. This public hearing was also approved to hold at the next city council meeting.

In other business conducted by Castle Dale City Council, a local business person requested an ordinance change to allow their business to sell beer from 1-7 a.m. The current city ordinance does not permit the selling of beer between those hours.

The store manager cited a directive from the company to increase sales or face closure. She has looked into other cities in Emery County and their ordinances do not restrict sales of beer during certain hours. She feels that Castle Dale is losing revenue due to the fact that between the hours of 1-7 a.m., people who want beer are going to other towns who do not restrict hours for sales.

Mayor Peacock informed the manager that to change the ordinance would require a public hearing. A public hearing on this issue will be held next city council meeting.

Councilman Brad Giles informed the council that he has had three complaints from scout troops that many homes in Castle Dale still have not changed their house numbers to meet the requirements. "We need to alert the residents this should have been done long ago. Our ordinance requires all houses to have the correct numbers for safety reasons," said Giles.

Mayor Peacock will alert the ordinance enforcement officer for Castle Dale. Richard Herring has been appointed as the enforcement officer and his duties will be to alert the residents of Castle Dale of the ordinance requirements of the city.

Carolyn Jorgensen, city recorder, informed the council the lease renewal for the city park property is only a year away. The property is owned by the LDS Church and they lease the property to Castle Dale.

Mayor Peacock said he has talked with the stake president and requested the church make a donation of the property to Castle Dale City. If the donation is denied, the mayor has requested a long term lease.

The next Castle Dale City Council meeting has been changed to Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. The public hearings will be held prior to the regular meeting.